Requiem Masses performed for benefactors to St Andrew’s Priory, Rochester, c.1235
Transcription
68r (select folio number to open facsimile)What is to be done for our benefactors on their anniversary days and how we ought to include them at Mass for the dead.
Anniversaria tria principalia similiter celebrantur, Gundulfi, Ernulfi, Lanfranci. Qua>r
The three principal anniversaries are celebrated alike, Gundulf’s, Ernulf’s and Lanfranc’s – a fourth less so, namely Archbishop Ralph’s – where the cantor must lead the choir with two responding to him;1 and three greater [bell] signals,2 as well as the others.3
Vii idus Januarii obiit Odo Baiecensis [Thorpe has ‘Baiocensis’] episcopus, cappa j myssa ad minus altare, ij, R/, ij, K/. Signum grossum unum cum ceteris in parua turri.
7th January,4 Odo bishop of Bayeux died.5 1 cope;6 Mass at the lesser altar; 2 [?responses; or Requiescant in pace (May they rest in peace), also known as Requiem aeternam ] 2 Kyrie eleison. One great bell, as well as the others in the small tower.
23rd January,7 Bishop Anselm [Ascelin] died.8 2 copes, 3 ?responses/RIPs, 3 ?Kyrie eleison. Two great bells [or the great bell twice]. Mass at the greater altar.9
2nd February,10 for William son of Anfrid,11 the same as for Odo.
10th March,12 Lord Bishop Gundulf,13 of affectionate memory, founder of our church, died.
15th March,14 Bishop Ernulf,15 of adored memory, died.
20th April,16 Prior Ralph.17 1 cope, one candelabrum.
10th May,18 for Countess Goda,19 the same as for Odo.
28th May,20 Lord Archbishop Lanfranc,21 of affectionate memory, died.
21st June,22 for Bishop John,23 the same as for Anselm, 2 candelabra.24
24th June,25 for Bishop [Gilbert],26 the same as for Anselm.
26th June,27 for Hugo abbot of St Augustine’s,28 the same as for Anselm.
17th May,29 for William de Helles, the same as for Anselm.
8th July,30 in commemoration of fathers and mothers, the same as for Anselm.
16th July,31 for Bishop Arnost,32 the same as for Prior Ralph.
26th July,33 for Bishop Walter,34 the same as for Anselm.
2nd August,35 for King William,36 the same as for Odo.
12th August,37 for Offa,38 the same as for Odo.
29th August,39 for Bishop Waleran,40 the same as for Anselm.
9th September,41 for King William.42
6th October,43 for John de Beseville, the same as for Odo.
14th October,44 for Bishop Siward,45 the same as for Odo.
20th October,46 Lord Archbishop Ralph died.47
23rd October,48 for Prior Silvester,49 the same as for Ralph.
25th October,50 for King Stephen,51 the same as for Ralph.
27th October, 52 for Hanfrid and Amabel, 53 the same as for Odo.
2nd December,54 for King Henry,55 1 cope and 2 great [bell] signals.
19th December,56 for Bishop Benedict, 57 the same as for Anselm.
Et nota quod hic et in omnibus quando constant duo Kyrie elieson, Requiem aeternam, ii. diaconus et subdiaconus casulas habebunt et duo candelabra. Quando cantant ad maius altare non erunt plures collecte [Thorpe], nisi due.
And it should be noted that here, and in all things, when they establish/agree two Kyrie elieson, two Requiem aeternam, the deacon and subdeacon will have chasubles and two candelabra.
When they sing at the greater altar [high altar] there will be no more than two collections.58
Footnotes
1 ‘responding’: or ‘engaged as assistants’, Latin ascitis, from ascire; see DMLBS, ascire: logeion.uchicago.edu [accessed 06.12.18]. This may be alluding to how, in the Mass, the cantor sings the ‘Responsorial Psalm’ and the congregation takes part by means of the response; see The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, 2011), p. 14: liturgyoffice.org.uk [accessed 06.12.18].
2 Probably meaning one of the named bells in the great tower of Rochester Cathedral was to be struck three times; this is suggested by a passage concerning the duties of the church attendants, recorded in Custumale Roffense (fol. 58r): ‘Also, in the great tower, during dinner on the principal feast days, they make three strikes of a great bell, either Bretun or Thalebot.’ Allusion to bells being rung for the dead is also recorded in this section of the manuscript (fol. 58r-v): ‘When from the community a body of the deceased laity is received, according to whom the person is, it may be accepted; and, as it pleases the sacristan, bells in the great tower, many or few, may be struck.’
3 ‘as well as the others’, probably indicating other bells in the smaller tower were rung too; see below.
4 Or ‘The 7th day before the ides of January’. Dates in this text use the Roman calendar – with its kalends (calends), nones, and ides – where days ‘before’ are counted inclusively; in other words, in this instance, the ides of January, i.e. 13th January, is the first of the seven days counting backwards, and thus we arrive at the 7th of January (not the 6th). For more on medieval English dating and calendars, see C. R. Cheney (ed.) and revised by Michael Jones, A Handbook of Dates for Students of British History: New Edition (Cambridge University Press, 2000); also the very useful website: medievalgenealogy.org.uk [accessed 05.12.18].
5 Bishop of Bayeux from 1049 until his death in 1097.
6 ‘It belongs to the master to regulate all things in the church, […] and that the copes in the second choir, when feast days occur, are carried in an orderly manner. He has nevertheless a man for himself who must with the second rank [attendant] strike and regulate the bells at processions’. From the same passage as above.
7 Or ‘The 10th day before the kalends of February’.
8 Or ‘Ancel’ (Latin Ancelus, abbreviated as Anceľ in the manuscript), probably a confusion of Anselm, the alternative name for this bishop of Rochester, who ruled from 1142 until his death in 1148. See ‘Ancel’ in DMNES. Handbook of British Chronology gives 24 January as his death.
9 The high altar.
10 Or ‘The 4th day before the nones of February’.
11 William of Allington (de Elintune), son of Sheriff Ansfrid (filius Ansfridi vicecomitis) is listed in Vespasian A. xxii; see Thorpe, Registrum Roffense, p.119; on Ansfrid of Allington, sheriff of Kent, see Martin Brett and Joseph A. Gribbin (eds), English Episcopal Acta 28: Canterbury 1070-1136 (Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. xlvi-xlvii.
12 Or ‘The 6th day before the ides of March’. Handbook of Chronology gives 7th March.
13 Bishop of Rochester from 1077 until his death in 1108.
14 Or ‘The ides of March’.
15 Bishop of Rochester from 1115 until his death in 1124.
16 Or ‘The 12th day before the kalends of May’.
17 Prior of Rochester; BHO gives ‘before 1107’, but this seems inaccurate as Gundulf was also prior during his bishopric, i.e. 1077-1108; see british-history.ac.uk [accessed 05.12.18]
18 Or ‘The 6th day before the ides of May’.
19 Goda, also known as Godgifu, died in 1055. Daughter of King Ethelred the Unready (r. 978-1013 and 1014-16) and his second wife Emma of Normandy (d. 1052); sister of King Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-66).
20 Or ‘The 5th day before the kalends of June’. Handbook gives death as 24th May.
21 Archbishop of Canterbury from 1070 until his death in 1089.
22 Or ‘The 11th day before the kalends of July’. BHO gives 20 June as his death, and 22nd as his commemoration.
23 Bishop of Rochester, from 1125 until his death in 1137.
24 The abbreviation ca. is used in the manuscript; Thorpe gives cappe ‘copes’ rather than ‘candelabra’.
25 Or ‘The 8th day before the kalends of July’.
26 The name has been erased from the manuscript. Bishop of Rochester from 1185 until his death in 1214.
27 Or ‘The 6th day before the kalends of July’.
28 Hugh of Trottiscliffe, former monk of Rochester, died 1151. BHO gives ‘the morrow of St. John Baptist’, i.e. 25th June as the date of his death: see british-history.ac.uk (accessed 05.12.18).
29 Or ‘The 16th day before the kalends of June’.
30 Or ‘The 8th day before the ides of July’.
31 Or ‘The 17th day before the kalends of August’.
32 Or ‘Ernost’; Ernust, correcting Ernulf, in the manuscript; the correction is rather clumsy. Bishop of Rochester, from 1075 until his death in 1076. Handbook of Chronology: 15 July 1076
33 Or ‘The 7th day before the kalends of August’.
34 Bishop of Rochester, from 1148 until his death in 1182.
35 Or ‘The 4th day before the nones of August’.
36 William II (‘Rufus’), r. 1087-1100.
37 Or ‘The 2nd day before the ides of August’.
38 Presumably King Offa of Mercia, r. 757-96. Check Handbook
39 Or ‘The 4th day before the kalends of September’.
40 Spelt Galeranno in the manuscript; Bishop of Rochester, from 1182 until his death in 1184.
41 Or ‘The 5th day before the ides of September’.
42 William I (‘the Conqueror’), r. 1066-1087.
43 Or ‘The 2nd day before the nones of October’.
44 Or ‘The 2nd day before the ides of October’. BHO gives 30th October as the commemoration date: british-history.ac.uk [accessed 05.12.18].
45 Bishop of Rochester, from 1058 until his death in 1075.
46 Or ‘The 13th day before the kalends of November’.
47 Ralph d’Escures, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1114 until his death in 1122, former Bishop of Rochester, 1108-14.
48 Or ‘The 10th day before the kalends of November’.
49 Prior of Rochester, from c. 1178 to c.1181; he probably died in office; see: british-history.ac.uk [accessed 06.12.18].
50 Or ‘The 8th day before the kalends of November’.
51 Stephen, reigned from 1135 to his death in 1154.
52 Or ‘The 6th day before the kalends of November’.
53 Or ‘Mabel’: Mabilia in the manuscript.
54 Or ‘The 4th day before the nones of December’.
55 Henry I, reigned from 1100 to his death in 1135; Henry died on 1st December.
56 Or ‘The 14th day before the kalends of January’.
57 Benedict of Sawston, Bishop of Rochester, from 1215 to his death in 1226. BHO gives the 18th December as the date of his death: british-history.ac.uk [accessed 06.12.18].
58 This appears to allude to the collection of alms during the Offertory Chant, the part of Mass which accompanies the procession of the bread and wine and their placement on the altar. See: liturgyoffice.org.uk, p. 17.
